• December 23, 2017 – 9:09 a.m.
Host: PAUL ORGEL [[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], @PaulLOrgel, @cspanwj, facebook.com/cspan ].
Guest: Uri Friedman, Atlantic Magazine senior associate editor.
Topic: 2018 global conflicts to watch.
Caller: Allan from East Chicago, Indiana (click here to view).
Caller: “Thank you to C-SPAN for taking my call. Merry Christmas. I have two comments. I don’t really view North Korea as that big of a threat. They want to develop nuclear weapons and even Trump made a speech that said every nation has its own sovereign rights. If that’s what they’re going to do, that’s what they’re going to do. If they go to war after that is anybody’s guess. But it’s good to be prepared and wait it out.
The second point, I think, to me the biggest conflict is in Israel. I am not a Trump supporter, but I do congratulate him on recognizing Jerusalem. The only way I feel that this conflict is going to be resolved is to recognize that the Palestinians do have rights. It is occupied Palestine. I feel like this is going to shed light on finally resolving this conflict by recognizing the Palestinians and giving them their rights back to their country.”
Host: “Thank you for calling. The caller brings up Jerusalem, the embassy being relocated. Speak to that big news of the last couple of weeks, the reaction to it, and what it means for 2018.”
Guest: “This decision is not the end of the story. We saw that last week when the United Nations voted on a resolution to essentially condemn the Trump administration’s decision. The Trump administration was very aggressive saying, you guys vote for this resolution, or we may not give you foreign aid, and we will isolate you. But more countries voted in favor of the resolution anyway. That was a real global perspective on the Trump administration. I think what the Trump administration would say is, ‘Israel is our closest allies in the region. It has a capital that is not recognized by the international community where every other country pro capital is recognized by the international community, we have been trying to get peace for decades. We are no closer to peace than we were before.’ They would say, ‘this was time to do this. This could potentially throw a wrench in the process but it may be that we can create some kind of new momentum.’ That’s their argument.
My feeling here is it is a real test case of assumptions we have had for decades about what would happen. We always assumed what would happen is it would dash peace hopes alienate Arab allies who are, you know, in favor of the Palestinians getting their own state. But we have had the ‘Arab Spring’ and the bloody aftermath of that. There are Iranian-Saudi proxy battles going on throughout the Middle East. The Palestinians are more concerned with the issue of occupation than the United States is.
What is really interesting, Saudi Arabia is becoming closer, secretly, with Israel because they have a common enemy in Iran. Will this do anything more or will this peter out? I think that is a testament to the fact that the region has changed a lot. While this conflict needs to be addressed, it is not at the top of the mind of most leaders like it was 10 years ago.”
NOTE: Caller misleadingly states, “It is occupied Palestine” and claims that this conflict can be resolved by “recognizing the Palestinians and giving them their rights back to their country.”
Typically for C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, neither host nor guest provide any context to inform viewers. First, there is no nation or geographical area officially known as “Palestine” to be occupied. What exists is a population of Arabs that took on the name “Palestinians” in the 1960s and is now governed by an entity known as the “Palestinian Authority.” As to the false notion of “occupation,” Jews cannot be deemed to occupy their own rightful country including the West Bank (Judea and Samaria).
Communities of Jews have continuously lived in their ancestral home in the Holy Land including the entirety of Jerusalem and the West Bank (Judea and Samaria). Further, according to official records, Jews comprised the majority of the population of the entirety of Jerusalem at least from 1838 until 1948, when the sizable community of Jewish residents were forced to flee by Arab Jordanian troops.
Moreover, scholars (Joan Peters in “From Time Immemorial,” among others) have shown that most of those who today identify as “Palestinians” descend from relatively recent migrations from surrounding territories. In fact, it’s likely that the Arab population began to blossom only well after the beginning of substantial Jewish immigration in the 19th century.
In 1948, the Jewish nation of Israel, as authorized by the United Nations in 1947 and by previous international declarations, was re-established with the capacity of caring for Jewish refugees form Nazi horrors. Israel had sought to accommodate the Arabs but was immediately rebuffed by Arab Armies that attempted to annihilate the Jewish state. And thereafter Arab forces attacked, or gathered to attack, Israel several times in order to destroy it.
The West Bank is disputed land. Israel is the obligatory and legal military authority of the West Bank, having taken the territory from Jordanian occupation in self-defense in the 1967 Six-Day War. But the land is not “Palestinian.” It is disputed. Hence the need for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations according to U.N. Security Council Resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973), and the 1995 Israeli-Palestinian interim agreement. Meanwhile, Jewish villages and towns built in the West Bank since 1967 are no more deserving of condemnation than are Arab villages built since then in previously existing Arab villages and towns.
The key problems preventing what the caller envisions as “finally resolving this conflict,” the caller erroneously attributes to not “recognizing the Palestinians and giving them their rights back to their country.” However, in reality, Palestinian rejectionism is the reason. Palestinian leaders rejected U.S. and Israeli offers of two-state solutions in 2000, 2001, 2008 and spurned renewed talks on such an agreement proposed by Secretary of State John Kerry in 2014.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority insists on various conditions unlikely to be accepted by any Israeli government before peace negotiations can take
place, including: Israel must accede to the demands that it accept Palestinian refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state (evidently 22 Arab Muslim states is fine but one Jewish state is one too many) and a “right of return” (that does not exist in international law) for millions of Arabs (nearly all of whom have never lived in Israel) that would inevitably result in the Jewish state becoming unviable.
December 18, 2017 – 9:18 a.m.
Host: BILL SCANLAN [[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], @bscanlanCSPAN, @cspanwj, facebook.com/cspan ].
Topic: Viewer comments on news of the day.
Caller: James from Virginia (click here to view).
Note: Caller comments on the controversy regarding President Trump’s declaration recognizing Israel’s capital of Jerusalem as its capital.
Caller: “One comment. A little bit of history. I was calling about Israel’s going back to Jerusalem. God gave Israel the land way, way before anybody else had it. He gave it to them. And the term ‘Palestine,’ in history was invented by [Roman emperor] Hadrian in AD 100 in a way to condemn them [Israeli Jews] and hurt their feelings as they were under siege by Rome. That is history. Everybody should know that Israel was there long before the ‘Palestinians’ and the Muslims. And if all the people who surround them over there – if only they had just absorbed the Palestinians and given them the free state they want and leave Israel alone.”
Host: “That is James from Virginia.”
NOTE: James is the rare Washington Journal caller discussing the Arab-Israeli situation who is at least minimally historically and Biblically literate about the Middle East conflict. Journal hosts seem not to possess this trait.
In the First Century C.E., Roman Emperor Hadrian changed the name of the Judea province and merged it with Roman Syria to form “Syria Palaestina” (to evoke the Philistines who had been a bitter enemy of the Israelites). The Philistines were not Arabs. “Palaestina” was later anglicized as “Palestine.” Hadrian’s intention in adopting the name “Palaestina” was to humiliate the Jews and erase memory of a Jewish presence there. It happened in about 135 CE when the Romans had finally crushed a Jewish revolt.
There has never been an Arab country named “Palestine.”
Neither the Bible’s Hebrew Scriptures nor the Christian New Testament make mention of the term “Palestine.” During the time of Jesus, the area was called “Judea” not “Palestine.” History books and commentaries often mistakenly refer to the area in the time of Jesus as “Palestine.” Likewise often mistaken about the history of the area are today’s Palestinian Arabs who are notoriously fact-challenged in that regard.
• December 17, 2017 – 9:28 a.m.
Host: STEVE SCULLY is C-SPAN’s political editor and senior executive producer [[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], @SteveScully, @cspanwj, facebook.com/cspan ].
Guest: Seth G. Jones, Rand Corporation, International Security and Defense Policy Center director.
Topic: Terror threats to the U.S. homeland.
Caller: Russell from South Carolina (click here to view).
Caller: “My comment is that the President of the United States – and I am a Christian, also an Air Force veteran – but the President of the United States seems to be inspiring terrorism by declaring Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Four Palestinians died yesterday. We mention the New York bomber but we don’t mention the fact that he said he did it because people were dying in Palestine because of the President’s decision.”
Host: “Your response.”
Guest: “Yeah, Russell, the issue of Jerusalem is a very complex and hot button issue. I would say this, that it is possible, and I think there have been a number of concerns that the political decision to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem may create anger and potentially trigger violence, either directed at the U.S., Israelis, or others from that move and from broad issues. But I would also point out that a lot of the terrorism we are seeing, and we have seen in the last decade and a half, is coming from other issues, as well. It is individuals that are wanting to support an extreme Islamic emirate, that comes from Africa into the Middle East, into the Pacific and south Asia. And they are inspired by individuals like the head of Al Qaeda and the Islamic State. I would say there are a lot of issues that may be inspiring individuals to conduct terrorism. What you are putting your finger on is one, but I would say it is not a driving factor in the terrorism we have seen over the past few decades that is tied to groups like Al Qaeda and ISIS.
Host: “Time for one more call.”
NOTE: On C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, almost invariably when the topic is one like this, at least one call is aired from a blame-the-Jews-for-everything caller. First, the caller erroneously states that the President declared “Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.” What the President in fact did was to recognize that Israel’s capital is in fact the city that Israel considers as its capital. Every recognized country in the world has its own declared capital recognized as such by other nations. Why should Israel be treated otherwise?
The caller also mentions “Palestine,” but there is no such recognized entity in the world today.
Moreover, it is clear that it is irrational to blame Muslim terrorism on Israel (or the President’s decision) while Muslim terrorists are slaughtering other Muslims by the tens of thousands over a differing interpretation of Islam. The Muslim terrorists are also killing non-Muslims because they reject Islam. If the New York bomber was in fact motivated by the repercussions from legitimate Israeli security measures, then he obviously is irrational on this basis among others.
• December 13, 2017 – 7:51 a.m.
Host: PEDRO ECHEVARRIA [[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], @PLEchevarria, @cspanwj, facebook.com/cspan ].
Guest: Niels Lesniewski, CQ Roll Call senior staff writer.
Topic: The Alabama Senate election.
Caller: Hendi from New York (click here to view).
Note: Off-topic, heavily Middle-Eastern accented caller is indulged by C-SPAN. How did he get by the call-screener when stating what he wanted to talk about? Was he untruthful with the screener? The host should have interrupted the caller as soon as it was obvious that this was an off-topic message. Otherwise, at least caller’s assumptions should have been scrutinized.
Caller: “Thank you for your great program. I think Mr. Trump lost everything inside and outside. First, he make a big mistake to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Every European country o
pposes the decision. We lost everything outside of our country. I think Saudi Arabia also could pay a big price for this decision among the Arabian countries. It could pay a big price.”
Host: “Okay, thanks for your call.”
NOTE: Neither host nor guest comment on caller’s message. Host rarely, if ever, comments on negative messages about Israel or Jews, allowing such callers to have their full say. What is the caller’s background? Can he offer first hand knowledge of how the decision impacts the Arab or wider Islamic world? How is the decision inconsistent with Palestinian aspirations? How does the decision relate to Islamic beliefs? How does the decision change the facts on the ground in Jerusalem? Why could Saudi Arabia “pay a big price for this decision?”
Caller states, “Every European country opposes the decision [to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.]” An informed, capable host (or guest) could have pointed out the possibility that the European leaders exhibit political correctness in kowtowing to the 50 Muslim-majority countries and their own Muslim residents. Viewers could have been reminded that only Israel, among the nations of the world, does not have its capital recognized (until the U.S. decision). Furthermore, in all recorded history, the city of Jerusalem has been the capital of only the nation of Israel.
Additionally, regarding Muslim leaders’ Jerusalem demands, mention could have made of likely problems to be encountered in inserting a border through heavily populated urban areas of Jerusalem containing many Arabs who prefer Israel political authority to Palestinian Authority notorious misrule.
When the subject of Jerusalem is brought up (which is often) on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, such questions and points are rarely, if ever, raised.
• December 10, 2017 – 9:48 a.m.
Host: STEVE SCULLY is C-SPAN’s political editor and senior executive producer [[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], @SteveScully, @cspanwj, facebook.com/cspan ].
Topic: The news of the week.
Guest: Ruth Marcus, Washington Post editorial page deputy editor.
Guest: Mona Charen, syndicated columnist.
Conversation regarding the President’s announcement concerning Israel’s capital city of Jerusalem (click here to view).
Host: “Quickly, I want to ask both of you – on the front page of the Jerusalem Post, widespread violence in the territories is not as predicted, but it’s all because the President named Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and is moving our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Ruth, what’s the significance of this?”
Marcus: “The significance is that President Trump, unlike a lot of previous candidates, actually did what he promised in recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Whatever the state of protests are, from my point of view it was a risky and unnecessary decision. Nobody thinks that the peace process is in good shape now but I don’t think that this made it in better shape, and so I am disappointed that he made that move.”
Host: “Quick comment?”
Charen: “I disagree. I think it was a ridiculous fiction that Jerusalem is not the capital of Israel or that somehow the U.S. doesn’t recognize it as such. It has been voiced as the majority view of the American people through Congress and through various administrations that we believe it is the capital and it gave the Palestinians an unrealistic expectation that their maximalist demands are possible when it’s much more likely if they recognize that Israel is here to stay. They must reconcile themselves to that reality and make an agreement with Israel directly. And if this signals that more forcefully, then I think it’s a beneficial thing for peace in the long run.”
NOTE: Rarely, if ever, where Israel is concerned on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, are two guests provided — as is the case here – one balancing out the other. Normally, in such circumstances, a single guest is provided who either remains silent or provides a misleading response relating to Jews or Israel. Mona Charen is indeed knowledgeable about the Arab-Israeli conflict as she has demonstrated previously as a guest on Journal. Ruth Marcus supports the Washington post dominant view which is normally harshly critical of Israel.
•• December 7, 2017 – Nine callers commented about Israel.
Due in no small part to C-SPAN’s routine airing of unchallenged anti-Israel material to its viewers, it’s not surprising that today’s Washington Journal callers commenting about Israel are mainly out of step with the majority of Americans who support Israel in its conflict with generally belligerent, undemocratic neighbors. Here’s today’s score: Out of a total of nine callers commenting about the United States’ announced intention to move its embassy to Israel’s capital of Jerusalem – Six oppose, two support, one neutral. This occurred in two separate segments.
Yet this broadcast differs from nearly all such Journal broadcasts in that guests were on hand to challenge misleading or defamatory assertions. Rarely, if ever, is there questioning on Journal of even the most blatantly false claims defaming Jews and Israel.
• December 7, 2017 – 8:19 a.m.
Host: JOHN MCARDLE [[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], @cspanMcArdle, @cspanwj, facebook.com/cspan ].
Guest: Dan Newhouse U.S. Representative [R] Washington.
Topic: Government Funding Deadline
Caller: Rodney from Florida (click here to view).
Note: Off-topic, anti-America, anti-Israel caller makes baseless claims and spouts racist falsehoods.
Caller: “We got away from DACA because you got to understand something when you are dealing with Jerusalem. Jerusalem don’t belong to the people that you put there. The reason the United States is happy is that the Jewish people they put there came from Europe. You had people there established and you come there and put your people that you like the best. That is what Donald Trump is trying to do. He don’t want nobody with any [indiscernible] United States. That is the reason you are having the problem with DACA. He wants to pick and choose the white folks. You can look at his cabinet. You want to pick white folks. That is as simple as that.”
Host (to guest): “Can you respond?”
Guest: “Thank you for the comment. Jerusalem has been at the center of the relationship between United States and Israel. Jerusalem goes back. I don’t necessarily agree with your point of view but I respect that. Like I said, I think this is something that the President saw as a natural step to take as we have had a consulate in Jerusalem for a long time. The center of Israel’s government and many of its functions are already in Jerusalem. This is something we would do with any other country in the world.”
• December 7, 2017 – 8:29 a.m.
Host: JOHN MCARDLE [[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], @cspanMcArdle, @cspanwj, facebook.com/cspan ].
Guest: Dan Newhouse U.S. Representative [R] Washington.
Topic: Government Funding Deadline.
Caller: Joe from Carrollton, Virginia (click here to view).
Caller: “My two comments: with respect to the government funding, the sad thing about this is it accomplishes nothing other than making nonessential people like myself who got sent home during the Reagan administration get sent him for a week and we later got reimbursed so nothing is accomplished. Secondly, with Donald Trump, President Trump, moving the United States embassy to Jerusalem, I’m in full support of it. I think it should have been done a long time ago but when you talk about Israel — you talk about Jerusalem. As far as getting bills passed, biggest problem I have is I cannot understand how people can vote down party lines continuously instead of voting for the good of the country. You have to cross party lines to get stuff done.”
Host: “Are you still a federal employee?”
Caller: “Yes.”
Host: “What kind of work do you do? Do you enjoy being a federal employee?”
Host: “I have been retired since 2010. But back during Ronald Reagan’s tenure when he shut everything down, I was furloughed. I got paid in the end but it accomplished nothing because the government didn’t shut down, the only thing that shut down were nonessential people.”
Guest: “Thank you, Joe. I appreciate your comments. From what I know about that particular shutdown it actually ended up costing the government more than if we kept it open. So I guess it makes a political point. It is kind of that ultimate nuclear option that — but in the end what does it accomplish? Not a whole lot so we are working hard to avoid that that. If we can come to an agreement the president and leadership of both houses are meeting today and this is high on the list of the agenda. I do appreciate your comments on Israel as well. Thank you very much. I agree, I think it is the right step.”
• December 7, 2017 – 8:30 a.m.
Host: JOHN MCARDLE [[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], @cspanMcArdle, @cspanwj, facebook.com/cspan ].
Guest: Dan Newhouse U.S. Representative [R] Washington.
Topic: Government Funding Deadline
Caller: James from Illinois (click here to view).
[neutral caller]
Caller: “In regard to moving the embassy to the capital to Jerusalem, I’m asking this kind of tongue in cheek, but how much did the President consider living in a place like Jordan which my daughter lived in until just recently? She just moved about a week ago. And how difficult that would be.”
• December 7, 2017 – 8:42 a.m.
Host: JOHN MCARDLE [[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], @cspanMcArdle, @cspanwj, facebook.com/cspan ].
Topic: Moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.
Caller: Michael from Maryland (click here to view).
Note: Anti-Israel caller makes baseless claims and utters falsehoods.
Caller: “I want to comment on the topic we were just talking about, I guess the new embassy will be moved to Jerusalem in Israel. It is kind of concerning. I think it should concern more Americans why it seems that Israel becomes such a pivotal subject in America. America should be first. We should not be thinking about what Israel — where our embassy is in Israel. It doesn’t make any sense. Considering that Israel attacked the U.S.S, Liberty to get the U.S. into a war with Egypt [a myth that is a staple of the anti-Israel crowd]. I really don’t think that is a really good ally. Who knows whether they coaxed us into war with Iraq and Syria.”
Host: “When Republicans say Israel is the strongest ally the U.S., others in the Middle East and you don’t agree.”
Caller: “No. I don’t think a strong ally will do that. I think they manipulate our intelligence agency and doing a lot of bad things around the world covertly through their power in the American government with AIPAC. It has more money than big pharmaceuticals and oil put together. That is a pretty powerful lobby. Most powerful in the world.”
Host: “That was Michael in Maryland.”
• December 7, 2017 – 8:42 a.m.
Host: JOHN MCARDLE [[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], @cspanMcArdle, @cspanwj, facebook.com/cspan ].
Guest: Representative Eliot Engel (D-NY), ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Topic: Moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.
Caller: Mark from the Bronx, New York City (click here to view)
Note: Caller is unhappy about the “decision to move the capital to Jerusalem” and attributes it to the influence of Vice-President Pence.
Caller: “Thank you for C-SPAN. At first I have to tell you I was not happy about this decision to move the capital to Jerusalem. But listening to Congressman Engel, I think it might not be — it probably isn’t such a big deal and we can’t be put under threat of terrorism. One of the other things I think and I’m not a conspiracy person at all, but I see Mike Pence behind Donald Trump during the announcement and I know that Mike Pence is an evangelical and I believe a lot of people believe that Jesus won’t come back until Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and I really think that Pence might have just said, you know, needling Donald Trump to make the decision so that Jesus can come back. I believe that Pence believes that.”
Host: “Congressman, I will give you a chance to respond.”
Guest: “Mike Pence was my colleague and House member for many years and he served on the Foreign Affairs Committee with me. I know him well. He’s always been a strong supporter of Israel. I think that he always tries to do the right thing when it comes to the Middle East. So I don’t know what factors into his decision. But he’s always been a friend of Israel.”
• December 7, 2017 – 8:52 a.m.
Host: JOHN MCARDLE [[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], @cspanMcArdle, @cspanwj, facebook.com/cspan ].
Guest: Representative Eliot Engel (D-NY), ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Topic: Moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.
Caller: Debby from Everett, Washington (click here to view).
Note: Anti-Israel caller makes false, unhistorical anti-Israel claims and falsehoods.
Caller: “I would like to make the comment that Jerusalem is an important religious city to many, many religions and it should belong to all of them. Not just the Jews of Israel. Israel has been horrible to the Palestinian people and the Jews are not indigenous people to the area. They don’t even belong there. They were given that place on land taken from other people. And they have been horrible to all the people around them, all the countries around them. They have attacked them. And they are bad actors.”
Guest: “Well, I disagree 100 percent. First of all, the Jewish connection with Israel and Jerusalem is 2,000 years old, and can’t be denied. The Jewish people come from the Middle East. I think that the caller should read the Bible and learn something. She apparently doesn’t know much about the situation on the ground.”
Host: “How soon could we see the embassy move to Jerusalem? How does that process work? Can you give us some insight?”
Guest: “It could and will take several years. I think that the President made it clear in his declaration first a suitable place has to be found. We have a lot of security requirements for our embassies all around the world. Obviously, the important embassy in Jerusalem with threats of violence and things like that so it would need to be protected. It will take several years to convert a building or build a new facility. I just was in Kosovo watching the U.S. Embassy there in the capital go up and I was there for the ground breaking about a year and a half ago and when I I was there the other week, we have made progress. It takes several years to build an embassy. We want to make sure there is security and it is modern and up to date and there are lot of requirements particularly in an embassy in the Middle East that has the opportunity to be volatile. It will be a several-year process. I don’t know how many but three or four. Something like that perhaps.”
• December 7, 2017 – 8:59 a.m.
Host: JOHN MCARDLE [[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], @cspanMcArdle, @cspanwj, facebook.com/cspan ].
Guest: Representative Eliot Engel (D-NY), ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Topic: Moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.
Caller: Terry from Woodridge, Illinois (click here to view).
Caller: “I think that President Trump did the right thing about putting the embassy there this time. I do. It sees the writing on the wall and the Palestinians have to face it and realize it is going to happen. They have to accept it. About this about breaking down the peace talks, what peace talks? 25 years, 70 years, nothing has helped. With the man who said that Mike Pence is behind this saying he believes Jesus won’t come until it is there, he needs to read the Bible. The Bible says when the land is taken away from the Jews for the third time that is when it will occur.”
Guest: “Again, Jerusalem has been Israel’s capital since the founding of the modern state in 1948. I think that what we are doing is simply acknowledging that. There have been other countries that have had embassies in Jerusalem but left due to threat of terrorism, We have to stop incitement to violence [by Palestinians]. We just passed a bill [Taylor Force bill] in the Congress to prevent the Palestinian Authority from making what they call moderate payments to terrorists who kill and maim Israelis and Americans. An American soldier, not Jewish, Christian, was in Israel studying, he was a graduate of West Point, he served in Iraq and Afghanistan and was knifed to death by a Palestinian terrorist. We cannot countenance this kind of behavior and the Palestinians have to understand terror will not get them their state. I think the Palestinians should sit down and try to hash out a solution, but not make demands they know will go nowhere. I think again, what the President did was the right thing to do. Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and I think we need to move on and not get fixated on this. There are plenty of things that can still be done. Israel is America’s strongest ally in the region. We share all kinds of intelligence with Israel. We share all kinds of military cooperation with Israel. Israel has helped the United States behind the scenes with security, with intelligence and it is a very important alliance and to people who are going to protest, I say, get over it, talk peace, sit down and talk peace, put your energy into finding a peace process and peace solution and not condemning the U.S. move. We have the right to put our embassy anywhere we want. If a country recognizes the United States and wants to put their embassy in Chicago, we would object because our capital is in Washington, D.C. Israel has the same right to expect embassies in their capital.”
• December 7, 2017 – 8:59 a.m.
Host: JOHN MCARDLE [[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], @cspanMcArdle, @cspanwj, facebook.com/cspan ].
Guest: Representative Eliot Engel (D-NY), ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Topic: Moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.
Caller: Bob from Campbellsburg, Indiana (click here to view).
Note: Caller’s odd question about Israel’s national legislature implies an anti-Israel bias as does the comment opposing Israel’s control of its own capital city
Caller: “Thanks for taking my call. I have a comment and a question. Jerusalem is considered a holy city by Muslims, Jews and Christians so I think it would be more favorable to name it is as international city of peace. My question, could you tell me who funded the Knesset [Israel’s legislature] — the building of the Knesset?”
Host: “Congressman?
Guest: “I don’t know who funded it, but let me tell you about the Knesset. The building has been utilized there since Israel has been in control. Since 1967, all the religions you mentioned have had access to their holy sites in Jerusalem. That was not the case prior to 1967 when Israel had part of Jerusalem and the Arabs part. So, there has been, yes, an important city for three major religions and Israelis respect that and allow prayer and encourage it from all the religions, I don’t think being the capital of Israel diminishes the right of any religions to claim ties to Jerusalem and worship there. I think that’s been proven, certainly since 1967.”
Host: “Congressman, Iwant to ask you about the potential impact of this move, if any, on the Iran nuclear deal and what act
ually is going to be happening with the deal in the coming months in 2018?”
Guest: “Well, I oppose the Iran nuclear deal. I voted against it. I think Iran is a bad player in the region, probably the worst player in the region, by the way, the reason why Israel and many of the Sunni players in the Arab states have gotten together behind the scenes is because both look at Iran as the major threat to the reason. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. There is a lot of cooperation behind the scenes. I think it benefits not only Israel, but the Sunni Arabs, as well. I don’t think they will be willing to blow all that up over this embassy move…”
• December 7, 2017 – 9:06 a.m.
Host: JOHN MCARDLE [[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], @cspanMcArdle, @cspanwj, facebook.com/cspan ].
Guest: Representative Eliot Engel (D-NY), ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Topic: Moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.
Caller: Herby from Mississippi (click here to view).
Note: Anti America, anti-Israel caller makes false, racist claims.
Caller: “America has been on the wrong side of history with slavery and how can a man leave home black and return home white. Since he believes in the Bible, he that is last shall be first. I would like to find out if he knows he’s quoting black people in America who are the true Jews while Palestinians and Israelites are fighting over it.”
Host (to guest): “Did you get that?”
Guest: “I don’t know where to begin. Let me just say that the United States and Israel are strong allies and that is why there is bipartisan support, strong bipartisan support for Israel in the Congress. I think that the United States should continue working with our Israeli friends to find a just of peace in the Middle East. By moving our embassy to Jerusalem, we are acknowledging a fact and the fact is Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. The government buildings are there, all the government work is done there and that has been a fact since 1948. So, let’s get on, let’s move on, let’s work for peace. I do support a two-state solution with an Israeli Jewish state and Palestinian Arab state living side by side with peace and security.. Palestinians have to understand they are never going to get their state on the back of terror. Instead of threatening violence as a result of this move, they ought to work to peace, they ought to try it, they might like it.”
• December 6, 2017 – 9:04 a.m.
Host: JOHN MCARDLE [[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], @cspanMcArdle, @cspanwj, facebook.com/cspan ].
Guest: Ted Yoho, U.S. Representative [R] Florida.
Topic: North Korea nuclear threat.
Caller: Mary Lou from Connecticut (click here to view).
Note: Here, the C-SPAN “public service” network perpetrates another of its numerous disservices to the public discourse by indulging a caller’s falsehood about Israel.
Caller: “Yes, I was a fresh – a sophomore in college when President Truman fired [General] Douglas MacArthur. He wanted to go beyond the 38th parallel and China was weak from the Japanese attacking them during World War II, so they would not have interfered. Harry Truman fired Douglas MacArthur. We were shocked out of our minds. We came to school the next day and could not believe what he did.”
Host: “Mary Lou, bring it up to today; we’re running out of time.”
Caller: “Well, I’m just wanting to say, actions have consequences.”
Guest: “They do.”
Caller: “Also, [President] Harry Truman took the European Jews and set them right on top of the Palestinians; now that is our problem today.”
Host (to guest): “Question for you at the end of this segment.”
Guest: “Mary Lou, you are absolutely right. Harry Truman did do that. And again, I hope – I know there are a lot of praying people out there. Let’s pray we don’t go to war and I have the strong belief that the war is not going to solve anything. If you look at Germany, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam – we were at wars with all these countries, South Korea just because of the Korean War and now all these countries are our largest trading partners. What that tells me, if we trade with these countries afterwards, why don’t we trade and put the war to the side and work on diplomacy and trade, I think everybody would work out better.”
Host: “Appreciate it. Up next, our “50 capitals tour” …”
NOTE: Typically, C-SPAN’s Washington Journal allows its viewers to be subjected to unchallenged misinformation. The guest’s response is not entirely coherent while entirely silent to the caller’s polemical comment, “Truman took the European Jews and set them right on top of the Palestinians; now that is our problem today,” to which the guest bizarrely (especially since he’s a U.S. Congressman) responds, “you are absolutely right.”
Rep. Yoho would be well advised to look into the historical record. First, No one “took the European Jews …” European Jews seeking shelter from the horrors of the Holocaust arrived in the homeland of their ancestors and declared their intention to re-establish the ancient nation of Israel. This international legal right of the Jewish people to reconstitute their own state in their ancestral homeland (including the West Bank referred to biblically and historically as “Judea and Samaria”) had been recognized by the Allied Powers of World War I at the 1920 San Remo conference. And the Jewish presence in the territory was recognized as legitimate in the Mandate for Palestine adopted by the League of Nations in 1922, which provided for the establishment of a Jewish state in the Jewish people’s homeland.
In May 1948, the leaders of the Jewish community in British-ruled Palestine declared the establishment of the State of Israel. Shortly thereafter, President Truman recognized the new State of Israel. In October 1946, Truman had declared American support for the “creation of a viable Jewish state.” In 1947, the United Nations had declared support for a “Jewish state” in the Partition Resolution voted for by the United States and the Soviet Union. T
The entire vote was as follows: For the Resolution (33) – Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Haiti, Iceland, Liberia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Sweden, Ukraine, South Africa, Uruguay, the Soviet Union, the United States, Venezuela, Russia.
Against (13) – Afghanistan, Cuba, Egypt, Greece, India, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, Yemen. Abstentions (10) – Argentina, Chile, China, Colombia, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Honduras, Mexico, United Kingdom, Yugoslavia. Absent (1) – Siam.
Furth
ermore, communities of Jews have continuously lived in their ancestral home in the Holy Land including Jerusalem. In fact, according to historical and cultural geographer Professor Yehoshua Ben-Arieh, “In the second half of the nineteenth century and at the end of that century, Jews comprised the majority of the population of the Old City [of Jerusalem]…” Historian Martin Gilbert reports that 6,000 Jews resided in Jerusalem in 1838, compared to 5,000 Muslims and 3,000 Christians. Encyclopedia Britannica of 1853 “assessed the Jewish population of Jerusalem in 1844 at 7,120, making them the biggest single religious group in the city.” And others estimated the number of Jewish residents of Jerusalem at the time as even higher.
Moreover, scholars (Joan Peters in “From Time Immemorial,” among others) have shown that most of those who today identify as “Palestinians” descend from relatively recent migrations from surrounding territories. In fact, it’s likely that the Arab population began to blossom only well after the beginning of substantial Jewish immigration in the 19th century.
In 1948, the Jewish nation of Israel was re-established with the capacity of caring for Jewish refugees form Nazi horrors. Israel had sought to accommodate the Arabs but was immediately rebuffed by Arab Armies that attempted to annihilate the Jewish state. And thereafter Arab forces attacked, or gathered to attack, Israel several times in order to destroy it. Jews cannot be deemed to occupy their own rightful country including the West Bank (Judea and Samaria).
The West Bank is disputed land. Israel is the obligatory and legal military authority of the West Bank, having taken the territory from Jordanian occupation in self-defense in the 1967 Six-Day War. But the land is not “Palestinian.” It is disputed. Hence the need for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations according to U.N. Security Council Resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973), and the 1995 Israeli-Palestinian interim agreement. Meanwhile, Jewish villages and towns built in the West Bank since 1967 are no more deserving of condemnation than are Arab villages built since then in previously existing Arab villages and towns.
Rep. Yoho would do well to take to heart the adage accepted by scholars as true about the lessons of history: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
• December 3, 2017 – 8:13 a.m.
Host: STEVE SCULLY is C-SPAN’s political editor and senior executive producer [[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], @SteveScully, @cspanwj, facebook.com/cspan ].
Guest: Daryl G. Kimball, Arms Control Association executive director
Topic: North Korea’s nuclear program.
Caller: Mike from Chillicothe, Ohio (click here to view).
Note: Typically for C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, a host and guest accept a defamatory claim about Israel without challenge or questioning.
Caller: “Good day, Steve. I do not know if my memory serves me right, but several years ago, our nuclear secrets were stolen. It seems like it was a CIA-Israeli spy by the name of Aldridge Ames. He stole the keys to the kingdom. See where that led to. But on the approach to the North Korea nuclear capability, I think we should use a more positive approach. I think, instead of a nuclear race, we should treat it as if it were a NASCAR race and welcome him like he won his first race. Now he is part of the club. And let’s all try to work together and congratulate the guy, like he really made an accomplishment. After all, the secret is out. It has been spread around the world. I do not know how many countries are armed and have missiles that can reach this country, but let’s look at our foreign policy, the State Department, and how that worked out.”
Host: “What about that approach?”
Guest: “I think our goal still needs to be the denuclearization of North Korea. That may be a long-term goal at this stage. Kim Jong-Un won’t give up his weapons. I do not think we should necessarily congratulate them. This is a very dangerous program. It violates multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions. What we should vote doing is the international community has to be careful not to goad North Korea into testing more and to do it more provocatively. If we deny the fact that the North Koreans have an ICBM capability that can hit the United States, or a viable nuclear deterrent, that may encourage the North Koreans to conduct tests in a more provocative fashion to prove they have that capability. They threatened that they may conduct an atmospheric nuclear test explosion over the Pacific Ocean, just to prove they have the capability of actually delivering a nuclear warhead on a ballistic missile. We do not want them to do that.”
NOTE: Aldridge Ames, formerly of the CIA, did his spying for the Soviet Union. He had no known connection to Israel. The caller’s claim, “it was a CIA-Israeli spy by the name of Aldridge Ames,” is baseless yet it was accepted at face value by both host and guest.
• November 27, 2017 – 7:35 a.m.
Host: PAUL ORGEL [[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], @PaulLOrgel, @cspanwj, facebook.com/cspan ].
Topic: Should the U.S. stay or leave Afghanistan?
Caller: Jonathan from Marietta, Georgia (click here to view).
Note: Off-topic caller’s anti-Israel rant is accepted by host Orgel who is experienced at such journalistic malpractice.
Host: “Do you think the U.S. should stay in Afghanistan?”
Caller: “I think we should stay, because we ought to finish. Most of our military is being used by Israel, because all this is about who controls the Middle East, controls the world. That is what it is – not so much about color, it is about territory. That is the center of the Earth. So whoever controls the Middle East controls the earth. Our military is being used by Israel to go around the whole Earth to take control.”
Host: “Thank you for calling. William is on the line now from …”
NOTE: Typically, a blame-the-Jews caller is indulged on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal. Caller spins a pernicious conspiracy theory misleading potentially millions of C-SPAN viewers.
Several of Paul Orgel’s Washington Journal numerous misadventures in hosting are documented in C-SPAN’s Orgel Again Facilitates Disinformation and Defamation Concerning Israel.
• November 15, 2017 – 9:15 a.m.
Host: JOHN MCARDLE [[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], @cspanMcArdle, @cspanwj, facebook.com/cspan ].
Guest: Lisa O. Monaco, White House assistant for homeland security and counter-terrorism.
Topic: The war on terror – U.S. counter-terrorism efforts.
Caller: Tom from New Jersey (click here to view)..
Caller: “You know, if ISIS and Al-Qaeda are such rabid militant Islamic terrorists, how come they never attack Israel?”
Guest: “Thanks for the question, Tom. Look, I think what we’ve seen is many of the fissures in the Middle East being one of the motivated factors of ISIS and Al-Qaeda in terms of trying to radicalize individuals. It’s one of the things we saw in the early parts of Al-Qaeda’s propaganda around the 9/11 time for why they have targeted America. So I think you could talk to my counter parts in Israel and say that Al-Qaeda style inspired violence and radical jihadist, violent jihadist attacks have been undertaken in Israel by those who are sympathetic to the Al-Qaeda style and ISIS style of messaging.”
Host: “How much has Trump Administration altered from the Obama administration strategy in the areas that you are talking about in fighting these various threats?..”
NOTE: The guest is on the right track here. The Lebanese, West Bank and Gaza branches of the central Islamist terror organizations, are handling the situation for the central organizations in terms of perpetrating violence against Jews.
Hezbollah, the Islamist Shia political party and militant group based in Lebanon, acts as a proxy for Iran’s fanatical terrorist dictatorship in conflict with Israel. Likewise, the Hamas Gaza dictatorship is a proxy for Iran (and is likely inspired by, if not allied, with Islamist terrorists ISIS and Al-Qaeda) in periodically attacking Israelis. Meanwhile the West Bank Palestinian leadership is likely in league with the Islamist terrorists as indicated by its actions and statements. This is exemplified by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ 2015 declaration apparently triggered by a false rumor that Israeli officials planned to enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque located on Israel’s Temple Mount. The Wall Street Journal noted on Oct. 18, 2015: “Mr. Abbas, the PA president, said the following on Palestinian television on Sept. 16: ‘We welcome every drop of blood spilled in Jerusalem. This is pure blood, clean blood, blood on its way to Allah. With the help of Allah, every martyr [murderer of Jews] will be in heaven, and every wounded will get his reward.'”
• November 15, 2017 – 9:29 a.m.
Host: JOHN MCARDLE [[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], @cspanMcArdle, @cspanwj, facebook.com/cspan ].
Guest: Lisa O. Monaco, White House assistant for homeland security and counter-terrorism.
Topic: The war on terror – U.S. counter-terrorism efforts.
Caller: Grant from Washington D.C. (Click here to view).
Note: Repeat Washington Journal caller identified as “Grant from Washington D.C.” is Grant F. Smith a Washington, D.C. author and director of an anti-Israel advocacy organization, Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy, American Educational Trust. Jeff Stein of The Washington Post noted that Grant Smith has made a career out of writing books critical of Israel. Caller has been an apologist for Islamic terrorists and the Iranian government led by Islamist fanatics. Consistent with Journal’s chronic habit of airing unchallenged defamation of Jews and Israel, host fails to adequately identify the caller (more below) and neither host nor guest challenge the caller.
Caller: “In the Obama administration, you [guest Monaco] were ultimately responsible for enforcing the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). You probably know, talking about 9/11, one of the forces motivating the hijackers to attack America was their perception that we unconditionally support one side in the Israel-Palestinian conflict. There was a foreign organization started by a foreign government official, Isaiah Kenen that was set up with foreign money and in 1962, the Department of Justice ordered that foreign organization to register as a foreign agent. The United States, at this moment, cannot be an honest broker in the region on this conflict, its Congress is utterly beholden to the campaign contribution network set up by this foreign organization and the Justice Department – you will not enforce the 1962 foreign agent registration order to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Please explain to America why you will not regulate this entity?”
Note: One of the caller’s falsehoods above concerns Isaiah Kenen who founded AIPAC in 1951. First, it’s a lie that AIPAC was “setup with foreign money.” Second, Kenen was not “a foreign official.” Rather, Isaiah Leo Kenen (1905–1988) was a Canadian-born American journalist, lawyer and philanthropist. Caller’s other falsehoods are refuted below.
Host: “Got your question, Grant. Lisa Monaco, a chance to respond.”
Guest: “Well, I’m not familiar with the 1962 case he references, I actually wasn’t even born in 1962, but the caller’s point, as I take it, I the need to enforce the Foreign Agents Registration Act [actually no, caller’s main point is to vilify Israel] and he’s right. It is a law in the books. It is devoted to making sure that there is transparency, both in those who are lobbying and trying to influence our government, based on or at the behest of foreign governments, so it is focused on transparency and focused on prosecuting and fining those who don’t do so to incentivize that transparency. It has largely been used as a kind of civil enforcement mechanism, trying to make sure companies and individuals who represent foreign interests in our government make clear they’re doing so and it has been criminally enforced in a hand full of cases, although not very many over the last decade. We’re seeing that change, most notably in the charges brought by special counsel Mueller and his staff in the last few weeks and some of those charges in the form of indictments that were levied on Paul Manafort and Rick Gates. When facts and circumstances present evidence it [FARA]is being violated, the Justice Department and the FBI should and in my experience, has, enforced it.”
NOTE: Typically, for C-SPAN, both host and guest fail to adequately deal with an anti-Israel propagandist caller.
First, can there be any legitimate excuse for the failure to here identify caller “Grant” as a repeat anti-Israel caller? In addition to the fact that this same host McArdle has at least twice previously indulged this same notorious caller, any modern computer based call-in talk show phone system, presumably utilized by C-SPAN’s Washington Journal (if not, why not?), provides various features for the host including flagging of repeat callers with information on their previous calls.
This same host indulged caller “Grant” on May 9, 2016 (8:21 a..m.) when he advocated for “Muslim American” groups in opposition to Israel and vilified “Israel Lobbyists.” McArdle likewise indulged “Grant” on Feb. 3, 2014 (9:29 a.m.) when he vilified Israel with misinformation.
“Grant” phoned on Oct. 30, 2013 (9:49 a.m.) when he claimed that “… behind the Chinese and behind the Soviets, you have Israeli spies …” Then, the caller obsessed on alleged nefarious nuclear acts of Israel but no mention was made by the caller, C-SPAN’s host or his guest of the potential threat posed to the world by a nuclear armed Iran.
Regarding caller’s falsehoods about AIPAC, it is not an agent of a foreign country. Therefore, it is not required to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). AIPAC is an American lobbying group that advocates pro-Israel policies to the Congress and Executive Branch of the United States. Its stated mission “is to strengthen, protect and promote the U.S.-Israel relationship in ways that enhance the security of Israel and the United States.” It is not an arm of the government of Israel or any Israeli organizations. There is nothing nefarious about this group despite caller’s attempt to mislead viewers.
The power of American supporters of Israel to control or even sway Congress is a myth perpetrated by haters of Israel. For example, an issue, critically important to all Israeli governments, especially in the past, is arms sales to Arab countries. But examples of Israel supporters defeating major U.S. government arms sales to Arab countries traditionally hostile to Israel are virtually non-existent. The best known single pro-Israel group is AIPAC yet the key component of support is represented by continuing majority support among the American people for Israel especially among the sizable community of Christian Zionists.
Furthermore, much greater political clout is wielded by, for example, the American Association of Retired Persons, labor unions, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the dairy farmers’ lobby or the National Rifle Association. While AIPAC is frequently vilified on C-SPAN by numerous indulged callers, a lobbying heavy-weight that is rarely if ever brought up in a C-SPAN Washington Journal discussion, is the petro-dollar funded anti-Israel pro-Arab lobby, whose influence is felt not only on Capitol Hill, the State Department and Pentagon, through multi-billion dollar weapons purchases but also in academia, with large-scale grants to prominent universities and think tanks, and in society in general through subsidies and material support to mosques, religious schools and advocacy groups.
As to the caller’s falsehood that American support for Israel was a key cause of the Islamist multi-pronged attack on America on Sept.11, 2001, he and his ilk typically make claims that the 9/11 Commission’s Report targeted Israel based on its conflict with the Palestinian Arabs. The blame-Israel crowd typically makes much of the mention about Israel on page 147 (chapter 5). This reference to Israel describes a self-serving, post-capture explanation by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM), the self-proclaimed mastermind of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. By his own self-serving account, KSM’s animus toward the United States stemmed not from his experiences there as a student, but rather from his violent disagreement with U.S. foreign policy favoring Israel. This sentence is one of the two references to Israel in Chapter 5 (pages 145 to 173 of the Report). The second reference (page 154) states that KSM had intended to land a hijacked plane at a U.S. airport, kill all the male passengers, and publicly excoriate “U.S. support for Israel, the Philippines, and repressive governments in the Arab world.” There is no mention of Palestinian Arabs on page 147 or anywhere else in Chapter 5. Elsewhere in the Report, there are only three references to Palestinian Arabs, none of which are in connection with alleged Israeli “oppression” or any such synonym. So, while the Report did mention Israel as a factor in the attacks, it certainly did not point to Israel as a major factor in provoking the attacks.
• November 9, 2017 – 8:48 a.m.
Host: PEDRO ECHEVARRIA [[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], @PLEchevarria, @cspanwj, facebook.com/cspan ].
Guest: Dan Rather, former anchor of CBS Evening News, talked about his new book, What Unites Us: Reflections on Patriotism.
Topic: Partisanship and patriotism.
Caller: Robert from Nashville, Tennessee (click here to view)
Note: Both host and guest tacitly accept (without challenge) the repeat caller’s pernicious and preposterous thesis, “the best way to stop terrorism [in the world] is to get control of Israel.” This is the epitome of journalistic malpractice. C-SPAN’s Washington Journal is chronically guilty of this practice particularly pertaining to Jews and the Jewish state.
Caller: “Best to you, Mr. Rather. I love what you have done all of these years. Your reaction to the question of why 9/11 happened when you were on David Letterman [TV show] which essentially was you did not know why that happened. This represents the disconnect that the American people have with our role or our perception of the role in the world. For example, when [President] George Bush and the Senate led us into Iraq it was an abuse of patriotism that George W. Bush had so much support that we allowed the neocons to get us into Iraq which was a trap. The same thing — the freedom of speech to be able to criticize our government and foreign governments. For example, the 3.8 million ah billion that goes to Israel every year and the best way to stop terrorism is to get control of Israel and their abuse of the people. In this country, folks have a hard time expressing that without being smeared and demonized.”
Host: “Okay, Robert from Nashville. Mr. Roberts – ah Mr. Rather, do you want to respond?”
Guest: “Well, there’s a lot in that question. One of the points I’m making in the book [indiscernible] I’m not sure I stated quite this directly, but number one, going into Iraq by any reasonable analysis was a strategic disaster of historical proportions. And we in this country and for that matter much of the world are paying the price for a very long time. Now, I acknowledge in ‘What Unites Us’ that I along with others didn’t ask enough questions as we were going, as we were being taken into the Iraq war. We didn’t ask enough tough questions. That was a mistake on my part and on the part of much of the press. The question now when we consider what unites us and what can we did going forward is to keep in mind some things you just said. A free and independent fiercely independent press is the red beating heart of freedom and democracy. One of the roles of the press is to be a check on power, and to ask the tough questions and don’t be afraid to ask tough questions. What frequently happens and it did happen in the roll up to the Iraq war and during the Iraq war is that those in power made the case and it was believed by many people that to question the strategy of going into Iraq was somehow unpatriotic. Just the opposite was true. The patriotic thing to do was to say. ‘I love my country. I’m going to back U.S. fighting men and women any time they are put in danger. But as member of the press, I’m going to ask the tough questions.’ That was the patriotic thing to do and it is the patriotic thing to do now.”
Host: “You write that in the book …”
NOT
E: Guest Rather, in his lengthy comment, fails to deal with caller’s odious message defaming Israel. Rather is apparently too intent on touting his own book which preaches patriotic values (and is a thinly veiled attack on President Trump) to pay any attention to the blame-the-Jews derangement syndrome exhibited by the repeat caller.
Caller “Robert from Nashville” had recently previously exhibited his syndrome on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal. On October 7 (8:15 a.m.) (see entry below), this caller demonized Israel as “the ones sabotaging the peace process” in a segment dealing with the topic: “The U.S. State Department and reports of tension between Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and President Trump.”
Then, as now, C-SPAN failed to inform viewers of the reality of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The facts show that the Palestinian leaders rejected a peace solution with Israel in 2000, 2001 and 2008 and the current Palestinian Authority leadership insists on various conditions before peace negotiations can take place, including: Israel must accede to the demands that it accept heretofore unacceptable Palestinian pre-conditions such as refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state and – “right of return” of millions of Arabs (nearly all of whom have never lived in Israel) which would result in engulfing Israel with Arab Muslims, making it unviable for Jews and effectively destroying it as a Western style democracy.
• November 1, 2017 – 7:15 a.m.
Host: PEDRO ECHEVARRIA [[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], @PLEchevarria, @cspanwj, facebook.com/cspan ].
Topic: The terror attack in New York City.
Caller: John from Massachusetts (click here to view).
Note: Conspiracy mongering, lunatic-fringe caller’s rant is accepted without comment by C-SPAN. Typically, Jews are vilified.
Caller: “This is basically international government and corporate fascism and colonialism. The same people that started Communism, Fascism, Zionism and racism. It’s your international cabal of freemasons who run all the corporations. That’s why you got Jay-Z in the music industry.”
Host: “Okay.”
NOTE: First, Zionism is the modern national liberation movement of the Jewish people. Only an obsessive hater of Jews would group it with Communism, Fascism and racism. Rarely, if ever, have C-SPAN viewers been informed on this matter.
An example of C-SPAN misleading viewers is host Echevarria’s opening monologue at 7:00 a,m.: “There are eight dead, at least 11 injured following an attack in New York City yesterday. Reportedly, the [perpetrator] shouted ‘God is great’ in Arabic after the attack.” Echevarria failed to note that the shout was “Allahu akbar” which is typically mistranslated as “God is great” by uninformed or overly politically-correct individuals.
First, the generic word for “god” in Arabic is “ilah” while the proper name (or unique name) for Islam’s god is “Allah.” Thus, the god referred to in “Allahu akbar” is the god defined in the Quran (or Koran) and Hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad). In jihadist ideology, if not Islamic theology, the difference between “ilah” and “Allah” is significant. The God defined in the Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian New Testament is not synonymous with “Allah.” Second, the word for “great” is “kebir” (not “akbar”) in Arabic – “akbar” means greater/greatest.
Lane’s Lexicon, the respected Arabic-English What is the attitude of a Muslim society about this issue? Do Muslims believe that Allah is the same god worshipped by Christians and Jews? Consider the behavior of the Islamic government of Malaysia, a country with a Muslim majority and a sizeable Christian minority. CNN, in October 2009, reported, “Authorities in Malaysia have seized more than 20,000 Bibles in recent months because they refer to God as ‘Allah,’ Christian leaders said. … Use of the word ‘Allah’ in Christian publications may confuse Muslims and draw them to Christianity, the government says.”
So, in this Islamic society and, as well, presumably in essentially all of the dozens of Islamic countries, “Allah” refers only to the deity of Muslims. It is not the generic word for God so it is incorrect to translate it as “God” in an English language phrase.
The phrase “Allahu Akbar” is accurately translated as “Allah is greater” conveying the meaning that Allah is greater than any non-Muslim object of worship.
• October 29, 2017 – 7:14 a.m.
Host: BILL SCANLAN [[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], @bscanlanCSPAN, @cspanwj, facebook.com/cspan ].
Topic: Does your political party represent your views?
Caller: Esther from Fairfax, California (click here to view).
Note: Anti-Israel, off-topic repeat caller’s lead-in is a concern about free speech but it’s soon evident that the actual purpose of the call is to bash Israel. Typically, a C-SPAN Washington Journal host indulges and enables such a caller.
Caller: “I am really afraid we are losing our right to free speech. You know, people in applying for hurricane relief in Dickinson, Texas, had to sign a statement saying that they were not boycotting Israel. And what is Israel having to do with hurricane relief? We are losing our right to boycott. People are having to go to court now not to defend that right. And we are also losing — a lot of people are being disenfranchised with all these new rules. We really have to be more vigilant.”
Host: “What do you think you have to be more vigilant about?”
Caller: “We really have to be more vigilant about people taking control of our government. I really think our foreign policy is much too tilted towards Israel. All of our Senators just vote for bills that AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, wants. We have several bills in Congress right now that will take away our right to boycott, which is a fund
amental First Amendment right. We have passed a number of bills now undoing the Iran accord. This was because Israel wanted us to do that. And I am just very concerned that we do not have any democracy anymore in this country. We are being controlled by outside forces.”
Host: “Alright. Your Tweets are welcome as well at @cspanwj. Does your political party still represent your views?”
NOTE: Host indulges and then enables conspiracy mongering, anti-Israel caller to continue propagandizing. Host should have asked source of information. Caller said “We have several bills … we have passed bills…” This invites a question such as “Are you involved in a protest or other movement?” But characteristically, especially when Jews or Israel are concerned, C-SPAN fails to ask the question.
“Esther from Fairfax, California” previously called on Nov. 25, 2016 to support “politically-based boycotts … I am pretty much focused right now on the Israel-Palestine situation.”
As for the “And what is Israel having to do with hurricane relief? We are losing our right to boycott” matter, the Texas governor recently signed the Anti-BDS (Boycott, Divestments, and Sanctions) bill into law. The statute “prohibits all state agencies from contracting with, and certain public funds from investing in, companies that boycott Israel,” The governor stated that “We will not tolerate such actions against an important ally.” Accordingly, applications online for hurricane relief grants require applicants to promise not to boycott Israel. Why is this? The Texas government has taken a moral stand in this matter.
The BDS movement started in 2005 as a nonviolent protest about predicament of the Palestinians. It involved into a call to halt business with Israeli companies and the government of Israel, as a way to put pressure on the Israeli government. Legislation in a number of states pushing back against BDS has followed, including proposals in the U.S. Congress because it’s clear what the BDS is really all about.
The movement has links to individuals and organizations that have been tied to Hamas, the U.S.-designated Palestinian terrorist group that rules the Gaza Strip. As reported by CAMERA’s Sean Durns, this revelation was made in testimony delivered at the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on April 19, 2016 by Jonathan Schanzer, a former analyst of terror networks for the U.S. Treasury Department. Schanzer is now the vice president of research for the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a Washington D.C.-based think tank that conducted the study submitted to the House committee.
In his testimony, Schanzer described BDS as a “relatively new, non-kinetic and less understood threat” whose objective is to “wage an economic and cultural war against the State of Israel.” The former Treasury official stated that although “much has been written about” BDS, “there has been little scrutiny of the corporate and fiscal structure of the BDS campaign’s major actors in the United States.”
Schanzer noted that American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) is a “leading driver of the BDS campaign. AMP is arguably the most important sponsor and organizer for Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), which is the most visible arm of the BDS campaign on campuses in the United States. AMP provides speakers, training, printed materials, a so-called ‘Apartheid Wall,’ and grants to SJP activists.”
AMP’s campus activities are extensive. Schanzer stated that the organization spent $100,000 on college campuses in 2014 alone. The group has a campus coordinator on staff to work directly with SJP and “other pro-BDS campus groups across the country.”
The power of American supporters of Israel to control or even sway Congress is a myth perpetrated by haters of Israel. For example, an issue, critically important to all Israeli governments, especially in the past, is arms sales to Arab countries. But examples of Israel supporters defeating major U.S. government arms sales to Arab countries traditionally hostile to Israel are virtually non-existent. The best known single pro-Israel group is the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Yet the key component of support is represented by continuing majority support among the American people for Israel especially among the sizable community of Christian Zionists.
Criticism from many political sides have noted that the accord’s enforcement regimen is weak thus allowing Iran to secretly continue working toward obtaining nuclear weaponry which would imperil the entire planet.
Iran remains today as the most active state sponsor of terrorism. The Lebanon-based Hezbullah terrorist group is mainly supported by Iran’s fanatical leadership. Iran seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979 and held and abused 52 American diplomats for more than a year. In 1983, its agents blew up the American embassy and Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 241 American soldiers and marines. In 1996, it blew up Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, murdering 19 American soldiers. Iran via its Islamic Revolutionary Guards and Hezbullah is believed to have been behind the infamous 1994 attack on the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In 2011, senior Iranian officials plotted to blow up a busy Washington, D.C. restaurant to kill the Saudi ambassador. Iran is a brutal police state (it tortures and executes its own citizens in large numbers) controlled by Shi’ite Muslim clerics with an apocalyptic world-view. These clerics tout the necessity of a war of destruction with Israel and the West in order to hasten the return of a messianic “twelfth imam.”
• October 20, 2017 – 8:45 a.m.
Host: PEDRO ECHEVARRIA [[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], @PLEchevarria, @cspanwj, facebook.com/cspan ].
Guest: Jamil Jaffer, founder of George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School National Security Institute.
Topic: Future of the Iran nuclear agreement.
Caller: Michael from Regal Park, New York (click here to view).
Caller: “I just want to say I think it is a great deal. They should leave it alone. They should look at the world, the way it is today. They never do anything with their nuclear weapons that anyone’s afraid of. Israel has almost 500 nuclear weapons. So, who are they going to mess with? Then, you have Pakistan and North Korea. I have examined the timeline with North Korea. I think North Korea has had nuclear weapons way before they fired the first one off. I think they are capable of sending them around the world. They may be there now, in parts of the United States. This is why they talk the way they do, so threatening. Because I think he was a smart kid. He was educated in New York. I think he knew he had to have a cat in the bag.”
Guest: “Well, I think it’s true that Iran might not go after Israel. But the truth is that with a nuclear weapon, Iran can influence the situation in the region. They support Hezbollah, which has killed Americans. So, Iran is messing around in lots of places and in Syria as well. So, the notion that Iran is a good actor is simply not true. They may not use it directly, but they can be threatening, the same way that [North Korea’s] Kim Jong-un is threatening the United States today. So, that is a real problem and I do not think it’s a world we want to live in.”
Host: “Wayne is next in South Carolina …”
• October 20, 2017 – 9:25 a.m.
Guest: Carrie Johnson, NPR justice correspondent.
Topic: AG Sessions questioned on Russia, Comey.
Caller: Robert from Charlestown, Rhode Island (click here to view).
Note: Off-topic hate-mongering caller attributes the problems to a Jewish plot.
Caller: “Ms. Johnson, all the newspapers and TV stations MSNBC, CBS, ABC, NBC,CNN are all against President Trump with this Russia investigation, which is really, there is nothing to it. But you won’t hear them print one word about Hillary Clinton, what transpired with Russia with her, the money, the Clinton Foundation. And as far as [United States Deputy Attorney General] Rod Rosenstein. Many people know this a just a Jewish cabal [secret political clique] that’s trying to control this. That’s what it is.”
Guest: “Well, I think that multiple newspapers have been covering the Clinton Foundation, Russia and this uranium deal, going back three or four years. So, I would argue with that. Also, with respect to the litany of news organizations he cited being allegedly against President Trump, I don’t speak for them, I speak for myself and my news organization, which strives to be impartial at every turn.”
Host: “Wisconsin is next [caller] …”
NOTE: C-SPAN fails to challenge caller’s venomous accusation (“Jewish cabal”) echoing the blame-the-Jews-for-everything derangement syndrome. Typically reflecting C-SPAN’s Washington Journal chronic journalistic malpractice concerning Jews and Israel, there is a failure here to confront the problem.
• October 13, 2017 – 7:05 a.m.
Host: JOHN MCARDLE [[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], @cspanMcArdle, @cspanwj, facebook.com/cspan ].
Topic: Viewer comments on news of the day (most calls involve health care insurance).
Note: The Washington Post reported, “The United States will withdraw from UNESCO at the end of next year, the State Department said Thursday [October 12], to stop accumulating unpaid dues and make a stand on what it said is anti-Israel bias at the U.N.’s educational, science and cultural organization…”
Host: “Charlie, does it make any difference to you that the United States withheld $6 million from UNESCO in 2011 [by Obama administration]?”
Caller: “That definitely is an important piece of information. But the fact they are using no differently than people who were boycotting and who were overturning boycotted goods going to Israel. It just seems that Israel has too much influence and the biggest lobby in the United States is AIPAC.”
Host: “Charlie in New York this morning, thank you. The State Department is talking about its decision to exit UNESCO … this reflects American concerns … and about anti-Israel bias. We want to hear your thoughts.”
NOTE: First, regarding caller’s misleading message, “Israel has too much influence and the biggest lobby in the United States is AIPAC [American Israel Public Affairs Committee],” here are the facts: AIPAC is the best known single pro-Israel group. Yet the key component of support for Israel is represented by continuing majority support among the American people for Israel especially among the sizable community of Christian Zionists.
Furthermore, much greater political clout is wielded by, for example, the American Association of Retired Persons,
labor unions, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the dairy farmers’ lobby or the National Rifle Association. A lobbying heavy-weight that is rarely, if ever, brought up in a C-SPAN Washington Journal discussion, is the petro-dollar funded anti-Israel pro-Arab lobby, whose influence is felt not only on Capitol Hill, the State Department and Pentagon, through multi-billion dollar weapons purchases but also in academia, with large-scale grants to prominent universities and think tanks, and in society in general through subsidies and material support to mosques, religious schools and advocacy groups.
Regarding caller’s message that “… a lot of money going to Israel. In fact, it is money that goes to military use” – first, it is well known that financial aid to Israel is for military purposes only. The current arrangement provides for $3.3 billion annually for weapons, including jet fighter aircraft, with $500 million for missile defense. This aid to Israel constitutes only a tiny portion of the federal budget (less than 0.1 percent). Further, the aid dollars must be used to purchase military materials in the United States which helps create or sustain thousands of American jobs. Third, cooperative arrangements with Israel provide technology benefits to America related to unmanned aircraft, anti-missile defenses, battlefield medical techniques – and intelligence on anti-U.S. as well as anti-Israel Arab and Islamic radicals.
It’s not surprising that former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen called the relationship with Israel “absolutely critical” to U.S. national security. Additionally, Israel, with less than nine million people, is America’s 20th largest customer (larger than Russia or Spain). Consider votes in the United Nations over the last several years that coincided with U.S. votes – Israel sided with the United States 90 percent of the time, all other recipients of U.S. support stood at less than 20 percent – Pakistan, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Afghanistan, Philippines and others.
Moreover, an extensive real-cost study published February 2017 explodes the myth that Israel is the largest beneficiary of U.S. military aid money by showing that Israel ranks below Japan, Germany, South Korea and Italy. Furthermore, realistic cost analysis would show that while America has spent trillions of dollars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the blood of U.S. troops – Israel does not require U.S. troops while it battles the same enemy – the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Lebanon components of the world wide Islamist militancy.
Obviously, Israel is the best bargain the American taxpayer has in terms of U.S. aid to any nation.
• October 13, 2017 – 7:58 a.m.
Host: JOHN MCARDLE [[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], @cspanMcArdle, @cspanwj, facebook.com/cspan ].
Topic: Viewer comments on news of the day (most calls involve health care insurance).
Caller: Anna from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (click here to view).
Note: Typically for C-SPAN’s Washington Journal program, a conspiracy mongering caller’s false, anti-Israel claim is accepted without comment by a host who often interacts vigorously regarding claims unrelated to Israel or Jews. Above, there’s a slight exception (7:05 a.m. entry) to this rule.
Caller: “I have three points. The first one is – I’m shocked that they put the former president in charge of the hurricane funds. President Clinton took the money from the Haitian People. The second thing is — the first gentleman on today [7:05 a.m. caller “Charlie”] talked about Israel. That is a forbidden subject. We don’t know how much money or arms we give them and we are not supposed to be that closely allied with anybody. And, the third thing — if you can have somebody on to explain the Federal Reserve’s [indiscernible] the other banks in Europe are privately owned and all under the influence. Everybody is scared about [indiscernible] get it in the open, thank you.”
Host: “[Next caller] Go ahead.”
NOTE: The caller’s detached-from-reality message is unchallenged regarding Israel. The caller is incorrect about so much. The U.S.-Israel financial relationship is completely public (it has to be approved by Congress). It certainly is not a forbidden subject. The news media often reports on it. The 7:05 a.m. entry above contains the essential details about the amount and purposes of the aid.
• October 11, 2017 – 8:17 a.m.
Host: PEDRO ECHEVARRIA [[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], @PLEchevarria, @cspanwj, facebook.com/cspan ].
Guest: BLAISE MISZTAL, Director of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s national security program.
Topic: President Trump’s expected decision to “decertify” the Iran nuclear deal.
Caller: Jack from Rhode Island.
NOTE: The 8:22 anti-Israel, defamatory caller Gary (entry below) wrongly implies that this caller, Jack, vilifies Israel.
Caller: “The country that has the problem with Iran is Israel. Israel is a technological super state, however, they are very small, basically the size of Rhode Island. All you need is two nuclear warheads, basically, to hit Israel, and Israel ceases to exist. Now, you cannot stop it. You can only slow it down. One other thing, too, Israel and Saudi Arabia today have a quiet alliance. They have to keep it quiet. Saudi Arabia is Sunni Muslim, Iran is Shia Muslim. They are at each other’s throats.”
Guest: “You’re right, Jack, there is no way to put the genie back in the bottle. There is no way to make Iran nuclear scientists forget how to build a nuclear enrichment program, how to construct a nuclear weapon. That is why the inspections part is really key to any nonproliferation regime. In fact, every signatory of the nonproliferation treaty, which is every country except five in the world right now, accepts concessions…”
• October 11, 2017 – 8:22 a.m.
Host: PEDRO ECHEVARRIA [[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], @PLEchevarria, @cspanwj, facebook.com/cspan ].
Guest: BLAISE MISZTAL, Director of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s national security program.
Topic: President Trump’s expected decision to “decertify” the Iran nuclear deal.
Caller: “Listen, I just wanted to say that the gentleman from Rhode Island hit the nail on the head. This is all about Israel. This is the same stuff we heard le
ading up to the war in Iraq. It is the same talk. What they want to do is they want to bomb 80 million people over there and make Iran look just like Iraq. That is what they want to do. Israel, well, it has got nuclear weapons. Nobody said nothing. They have more weapons per capita than any other country in the world, but nobody says anything. It was the Israelis who introduced terrorism to the Middle East when they chased out the British. Now everybody adopted it. Israel has a heavy hand. They have used a heavy hand and all the countries in the Middle East feel uncomfortable with Israel having nuclear weapons.”
Note: Caller, anxious to vilify Israel, incorrectly implies that the 8:17 a.m. caller vilified Israel.
Host: “Okay, Gary. Thanks.”
Guest: “It is important to point out that Iran’s nuclear program is far more advanced than we ever thought Saddam Hussein’s was in Iraq. There are three elements to a nuclear weapon. The material you need, which is either uranium or plutonium, you need to know how to build the nuclear weapon itself and make a nuclear chain reaction, and you have a need of ballistic missiles delivering the nuclear weapon. We know that Iran has developed all three of those. We have credible evidence. They were modeling nuclear weapons and testing high explosives. We have seen ballistic missiles that Iran has tested. This is a very real program with no doubt where Iran is headed.”
Host: “Do we accept other nations having nuclear programs? Is that something we can approach with Iran, just living with the idea that they have a program?”
Guest: “We do not accept other nations having programs. The nonproliferation treaty was signed, and grandfathered for the ones who already had it. That is the United States, the Soviet Union, now Russia, China, France, and Great Britain. The nonproliferation treaty said no more beyond the U.S., India and Pakistan. Israel is believed to have a nuclear program but has not confirmed to have nuclear weapons. But we really want to stop that there. We won’t accept the breaking out, leaving behind the obligations and trying to get weapons. With North Korea, we do not accept North Korea having nuclear weapons. Denuclearization remains the policy. We will not ever accept a nuclear Iran.”
NOTE: Caller, exhibiting symptoms of the blame-the-Jews derangement syndrome, exonerates Iran’s dangerous behavior as dangerous only to Israel, irrationally blames Middle East terrorism on Israel, and vilifies Israel’s supposed nuclear weaponry program.
But in reality, Israel does not threaten other countries, as does Iran and others, with destruction and is perceived as highly unlikely to share any nuclear weaponry knowledge with any other country. Israel’s purported nuclear weapons role is for deterrence in the volatile Middle East and is analogous to the role of America’s nuclear weapons role in keeping the Cold War with the Soviet Union from turning hot. Israel, a close ally, consults with the United States on defense matters, including threats from Iran, Hezbullah or Hamas. Israel has not participated in the proliferation of nuclear weapons technology to other countries as have Pakistan, China, North Korea and, reportedly, Iran.
Host: KIMBERLY ATKINS, Boston Herald newspaper chief Washington reporter and columnist [[email protected], [email protected], @cspanwj, facebook.com/cspan].
Guest: EMILY TAMKIN, staff writer of Foreign Policy magazine.
Topic: The U.S. State Department and reports of tension between Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and President Trump.
Caller: Robert from Nashville, Tennessee (click here to view).
Note: Consistent with C-SPAN’s Washington Journal journalistic malpractice, host Atkins, also a Fox News Channel contributor, accepts a caller’s demonization of Israel. Is Atkins impartial towards Israel? As Boston Herald columnist she has written of the Israel-U.S. relationship. For example, her Feb. 16, 2017 page 4 Herald column, “Bibi, Trump smile for cameras in sham of support,” in which she misleadingly and sarcastically criticized both the President and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu.
Caller: “I agree with Secretary Tillerson as far as not dealing with those kinds of reports, even if he did say it. Everything is taken out of context. This is an example of the lowest common denominator. Obsessing, and you know, Washington and, you know, the media. And really, what is important are major issues. This is just a silly side issue. Like for example, is there anyone in the State Department or the Defense Department or the White House who is trying to take a more balanced approach towards the Israeli government keeping in mind that they are the ones sabotaging the peace process, yet they make it seem like it is the Palestinians. I am wondering if people are frustrated?”
Host: “Let’s discuss this intrigue.”
Guest: “To the point that you agree he is right, Robert, in not dealing with the reports, and the question is to why hold a press briefing to deal with reports. That was my point. If you are going to hold a press briefing about calling him [President Trump] this word [moron], you’d think you would address it. Number two, I agree, that I would hope we could just discuss Cuba or Iran, but the reason people are so fixated on this is the relationship between the President and the Secretary of State and the morale of the State Department. That affects their ability to work on all of those issues. So, you know, number one, sure it is gossip, but on the other hand, there are very political impacts, and it is not just the State Department that you alluded to. The report from CBS News talks about Nikki Haley…”
Host (reading from newspaper): “In order to refute the negative report that Tillerson’s tenure has been stormy in recent months, and while he did not knock down the report calling the President a moron, he faces other tensions, including national security advisor H.R. Mcmaster. In July, the two argued over decertifying the Iran nuclear deal for a second time… There are major issues being faced right now such as the ongoing threat from North Korea…”
NOTE: This caller “Robert” has previously demonized Israel on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal without challenge. Here, while talking at length, neither host nor guest bother to refute or even question caller’s anti-Israel propaganda about the need for a “more balanced approach towards the Israeli government keeping in mind that they are the ones sabotaging the peace process, yet they make it seem like it is the Palestinians.”
But the facts show that the Palestinian leaders rejected a peace solution with Israel in 2000, 2001 and 2008 and the current Palestinian Authority leadership insists on various conditions before peace negotiations can take place, including: Israel must accede to the demands that it accept heretofore unacceptable Palestinian pre-conditions such as refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state and – “right of return” of millions of Arabs (nearly all of whom have never lived in Israel) which would result in engulfing I
srael with Arab Muslims, making it unviable for Jews and effectively destroying it as a Western style democracy.
Moreover, obstructing peace is the brainwashing inflicted upon Palestinian Arabs by a steady stream of antisemitic, anti-Israel incitement from Palestinian media, mosques and schools in violation of Article 26 (2) of the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as in violation of Israeli-Palestinian agreements. On the other hand, there is nothing in mainstream Jewish society anywhere relating to Arabs (or any ethnic/religious/racial group) that is remotely analogous to that found chronically in official Palestinian sources aimed at the destruction of Israel and Jews.
Therefore, the false claim that Israelis “are the ones sabotaging the peace process” is contradicted by the facts. And the refusal to accept Israel as a Jewish state is indicative of the pernicious attitude that 22 Arab Muslim states is fine but one Jewish state is one too many.
• September 23, 2017 – 7:53 a.m.
Host: KIMBERLY ATKINS, Boston Herald newspaper chief Washington reporter and columnist [[email protected], [email protected], @cspanwj, facebook.com/cspan].
Topic: Your news story of the week.
Caller: John from Milwaukee, Wisconsin (click here to view).
Note: Consistent with C-SPAN’s Washington Journal journalistic malpractice, host Atkins, also a Fox News Channel contributor, indulges a lengthy rant from a caller demonizing U.S. policy including misleading viewers about the U.S.-Israel relationship. Atkins fails to interact with caller. Is Atkins impartial towards Israel? As Boston Herald columnist she has written of the Israel-U.S. relationship. For example, her Feb. 16, 2017 page 4 Herald column, “Bibi, Trump smile for cameras in sham of support,” in which she misleadingly and sarcastically criticized both the President and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu.
Caller: “I have three points I would like to make and will try to make them as quickly as I possibly can. The first one is regarding all of the rhetoric I have been hearing about North Korea. C-SPAN, will you please educate the American people about North Korea being the oldest war America has been involved in. They [United States] have invaded Korea, divided the country, the same thing they did to Vietnam. Vietnam kicked the United States out of the country and North Korea is trying to do that after America killed millions of North Koreans. My second point, you just had a clip about President Trump glorifying the American flag. Yet, he can sympathize with people marching down the street with a Confederate flag and a Nazi flag, which is vulgar and disrespectful to the American flag.
My last point, if America can send tens of billions of dollars to Israel so their citizens can have health care, why can’t we afford to provide health care to the American people? Hypocrisy. Thank you.”
NOTE: Typically, a C-SPAN caller’s unchallenged complaint, in addition to vilifying the United States, singles out only Israel from among all recipients of U.S. financial aid thereby misleading viewers. The key facts about the mutually beneficial U.S.-Israel relationship are listed below in the September 13 and September 21 entries dealing with this caller John’s think-alike fellow traveler callers “Bill from Wisconsin” and “Gerry from Virginia.”
• September 21, 2017 – 7:18 p.m.
Host: PEDRO ECHEVARRIA [[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], @PLEchevarria, @cspanwj, facebook.com/cspan ].
Topic: The Republican health care proposal.
Caller: Bill from Wisconsin (click here to view).
Caller: “These Republicans give $40 billion to Israel and what type of insurance do they [Israelis] have? Government run health insurance paid for by our government. The guy from Florida who called … So they [Israelis] have government run health insurance paid by us but we can’t have government run insurance for the American people. So, that guy in Florida is crazy.”
Host: “Caller from Marion, Ohio…”
NOTE: Caller “Bill from Wisconsin” falsely claims that the United States pays for the health insurance of Israelis. Although host Echevarria vigorously interacts with the majority of callers in this segment, he is silent to this off-topic caller’s anti-Israel charge which is obviously false to any informed person. C-SPAN’s chronic Washington Journal journalistic malpractice pertaining to the Jewish nation state again potentially misleads vulnerable C-SPAN viewers.
The key facts about the mutually beneficial U.S.-Israel relationship are listed below in the September 13 entry documenting Bill’s think-alike, caller “Gerry from Virginia.”
• September 13, 2017 – 7:14 a.m.
Host: JOHN MCARDLE [[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], @cspanMcArdle, @cspanwj, facebook.com/cspan ].
Topic: National debt passes $20 trillion – what would you cut?
Caller: Gerry (or Jerry) from Virginia (click here to view).
Note: In a detached-from-reality propagandistic rant, caller blames United States for “ridiculous wars against all over the planet that make people hate us” that are caused by the world-wide Islamist religious-based militancy and – singles out only Israel from among the numerous recipients of U.S. financial aid as to where to cut U.S. spending in order to help finance welfare spending. But financial aid to Israel is a relatively small amount and Israel is the best buy for the United States in foreign assistance (more below in the closing NOTE). Typically, a C-SPAN host remains silent thereby potentially misleading vulnerable viewers. This is symptomatic of C-SPAN’s chronic Washington Journal journalistic malpractice.
Caller: “I’m just wondering why social spending, Social Security, that kind of thing, is always the problem that runs up our debt. We cannot even have a national health care system. But why is it okay for the Pentagon to spend more than half of our budget to fight these ridiculous wars all over the planet that make people hate us? In addition, we give Israel $40 billion, and they have cradle-to-grave socialized medicine. So, it just seems that the American people are getting punched in the face while the Pentagon is running rampant over the country.”
[End of caller’s monologue]
Note: Additional funding for health care and entitlements can be found from other than foreign aid packages in wasted expenditures of local and federal government. If one, say, Googles, “where Michigan wastes millions” or “where federal government wastes millions and billions,” hundreds, if not thousands, of items turn up that could yield millions or billions of dollars in recouped funds.
Host: “Gerry mentioned universal health care. Senator Bernie Sanders is set to introduce universal
health care insurance legislation on that topic…”
NOTE: These are the facts about the U.S.-Israel financial agreement: The current military aid agreement provides for $3.3 billion annually for weapons, including jet fighter aircraft, with $500 million for missile defense. That’s 38 billion over the next decade and the arrangement requires that all of the money is to be spent in the United States. Importantly, no American troops are or have ever been casualties fighting for Israel because Israel completely defends itself against all aggression (which has been plentiful).
Is the America-Israel relationship a mutually beneficial one? Several points are relevant. First, financial (it is military only) aid to Israel continues to constitute only a tiny portion of the federal budget (less than 0.1 percent). Further, the aid dollars must be used to purchase military materials in the United States which helps create or sustain thousands of American jobs. Third, cooperative arrangements with Israel provide technology benefits to America related to unmanned aircraft, anti-missile defenses, battlefield medical techniques – and intelligence on anti-U.S. as well as anti-Israel Arab and Islamic radicals.
It’s not surprising that former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen called the relationship with Israel “absolutely critical” to U.S. national security. Additionally, Israel, with less than nine million people, is America’s 20th largest customer (larger than Russia or Spain). Consider votes in the United Nations over the last several years that coincided with U.S. votes – Israel sided with the United States 90 percent of the time, all other recipients of U.S. support stood at less than 20 percent – Pakistan, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Afghanistan, Philippines and others.
Moreover, an extensive real-cost study published February 2017 explodes the myth that Israel is the largest beneficiary of U.S. military aid money by showing that Israel ranks below Japan, Germany, South Korea and Italy.
Furthermore, a realistic cost analysis would show that while America has spent trillions of dollars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the blood of U.S. troops – Israel does not require U.S. troops while it battles the same enemy – the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Lebanon components of the world wide Islamist militancy.
Obviously, Israel is the best bargain the American taxpayer has in terms of U.S. aid to any nation.